A ratings race is a marathon, not a sprint, so a slow start doesn’t mean a poor finish. But after all that money spent on all those ads, CBC sure can’t be too happy with their new news numbers so far.Monday’s audience for The National at 10 was 482,000 viewers across Canada, dropping to 417,000
That phony “Save Local TV” campaign cliché kept clanging around my head in St. John’s last week–especially when the hotel set was tuned in to NTV.The bizarro local “superstation”–Newfoundland’s oldest TV outlet dating back to 1955–is unique in Canada in that it carries a mix of both CTV and Global programming. You can watch Canada
Another big weekend for Canadian television with three homegrown non-news shows drawing over a million-and-a-half viewers each. The big winner as usual was CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, which scored a hefty 2,453,000 Saturday night for a classic Toronto/Montreal tilt (the Canadiens’ retro striped pyjama look tested Hi-Def sets everywhere). CTV’s Friday night winner Flashpoint
ST. JOHN’S, Nfld.–The Republic of Doyle is bloody awesome. Not just the upcoming CBC series–which looks as cool as the 1968 Pontiac GTO driven by the show’s private eye protagonist–but the jewel of a town where it all takes place, St. John’s, Newfoundland.The folks were as warm as sunshine, even on a cold and blustery
CBC’s The Border sank to its lowest audience level ever Thursday night, attracting just 410,000 viewers. The Toronto-lensed series, starring James McGowan (left), got bloodied opposite Grey’s Anatomy on CTV, which drew 3.1 million viewers (all figures BBM Canada overnight commercial estimates).McGowan’s character, Maj. Mike Kessler, takes his beating next week in an episode set
ST. JOHN’S, Nfld.–Holy crap, things happen a whole hour-and-a-half earlier out here.The view of St. John’s harbour looks mighty fine from the sixth floor of the Delta hotel but that’s about all I’ve seen of the joint so far. Even the cab driver sounded like Rick Mercer so I guess I’m in the right place.I’m
CBC made a big mistake by overselling their news makeover Monday and are they paying for it this week. All the outrage on the Internet, you’d think Mansbridge had lied about hiding a kid in a balloon.Everybody seems convinced CBC News stands for nothing now that Mansbridge won’t sit down (especially the Legion of Decency’s
What BBM giveth, PPM taketh. The Rick Mercer Report was up to 1,242,000 viewers Tuesday night while CBC’s much hyped The National slipped to 627,000 at 10 and 495,000 at 10:25. The other newscasts all held steady: CTV National News at 11 got 1,328,000. Global National at 5:30 scored 1,209,000. Other Tuesday night numbers in